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My original plan for my birth was to go all natural, no meds or anything. We had taken Bradley classes to prepare and I was confident I would have the birth that I wanted. My body, unfortunately, had other plans. I feel like labor started and stopped a couple times before it actually decided to stick around. On Sunday (3.14.10) I started having some pretty painful, but irregular contractions throughout the night. Needless to say, I didn’t get hardly any sleep at all that night. I was supposed to work on Monday but I called in because I was afraid I wouldn’t make it through the day. By the next morning, my contractions had completely stopped. That night (Monday, 3.15.10) I started having stronger contractions and by midnight I was in hard labor. I labored at home all through the night and by 9:00am we were ready to go to the hospital. I was in quite a bit of pain at this point, but I was nervous that I would get there and they would tell me I was still just 1cm dilated like I had been at my last appointment. Those worries were definitely unfounded

We checked in and the nurses went to work on me. I was already 4cm dilated during the cervical check, but the nurse had another surprise for us. Almost immediately, our nurse announced that the baby was breach and that she could “feel toes” and then it was like all hell broke loose. The room filled up with nurses, all doing something different and explaining nothing. The word “c-section” was thrown around by several people. I was in hysterics and Jeff was barely keeping himself together. Finally, the charge nurse came in and announced that the “toes” weren’t toes, they were fingers; the baby had its hand on top of its head. We were so relieved, but our relief was short lived. The charge nurse stated that the baby would still have to be delivered by c-section because the baby’s arm would get stuck above her head and it would get lodged in the pelvis. The panic was back on. By this point I had been awake for almost 36 hours and was beyond exhausted. Jeff was amazing during the chaos and told the nurses that nothing was going to be done until the doctor arrived and talked to them. He was such a wonderful, calming presence and I was seriously impressed with his coaching skills.

The doctor showed up, examined the situation, and acted like it was no big deal. He said he could move the hand out of the way easily and he wasn’t really concerned about it. He said if the hand moved back he could always do a controlled rupture of membranes which would involve moving the hand then breaking the bag of waters so it couldn’t move back. This calmed everyone down and the room emptied again. I continued to labor and in only 90 minutes progressed from four centimeters dilated to almost 7 centimeters, then my progress stopped. Completely stopped. Over the next six hours, I had made no further progress. The only position that seemed to do any good was the position that was most painful to me.

The doctor came in at 4pm and broke my water in hopes that progress would pick back up. There was a ton of fluid and it sounded like someone pouring out a bottle of water on the floor, LOL! Twenty minutes later I was at 8cm and -2 station. Once again progress stalled. At 7pm the doctor suggested Pitocin to intensify the contractions. I was beyond exhausted and in so much pain already; I knew that if they did the Pitocin I wouldn’t be able to handle the pain. I decided that I wanted an epidural and Pitocin. Because of my slow progress I knew it was just a matter of time before they would start bring up a possible C-section. Me and Jeff talked about our options and I told him what I wanted. He tried to talk me out of it because he knew how important a natural birth was to me and he was afraid that I would regret my decision later. I told him a vaginal birth was more important than a natural birth. The use of these interventions may well have saved us from a c-section.

After the epidural kicked in, I was able to relax and get a little rest. About 20 minutes after the epidural the nurse was able to turn off the Pitocin because my body kicked back in with the good, effective contractions. Our doula told Jeff to take a break and he stepped out of the room to stretch his legs and make a few phone calls. She told him that it’s usually a few hours after the epidural before people start pushing. The nurse checked me and said that I was complete and ready to start pushing. Jeff had only been gone about 15 minutes and our doula called him saying that he needed to come back right away. Jeff got back to the room and the pushing was on.

I pushed for three long hours but honestly it didn’t feel like that long. For the first two hours there seemed to be very little progress. Jeff was beginning to worry about how long the doctor would allow me to push until he insisted on more aggressive interventions. Jeff told me about these worries after everything was over of course. Halfway through the third hour, something changed and the pushing became very productive. And at 10:51pm, Casey pushed one last time and a little baby girl was born. Jeff announced the gender and cut the cord and the nurses moved little Marina over to the warming bed. When they laid her down, she put her little hand on top of her head. Trouble-maker. Marina weighed 7lbs 8.5oz and was 19.5 inches long. Jeff was with her while they were cleaning her up and I could hear him say “She’s so beautiful!” I was dying to see her and it felt like forever before they finally laid her on my chest. She immediately latched on with help from the doula which was reassuring. All in all it wasn’t the birth I planned on but I got the most beautiful baby girl out of it. I am a little disappointed that I didn’t get my natural birth, but having her arrive safely was all that matters.

Week oneBeing a mommy has been such an amazing experience so far. I’m so in love with my little girl! She is such a beautiful baby and has been so good in the hospital. Breastfeeding was bit of a challenge and it turns out we have been having latching problems. She sucked raw spots on my nipples and the nurses gave me a nipple shield to use. It was pretty painful and the shield helped so much. We arrived home and Marina did a great job on the ride home. This first week was very challenging because she had her days and nights mixed up. My sister in law gave us some tips and this quickly resolved. Overall, Marina is a pretty happy baby and I feel like the luckiest mom in the world.

Week twoStill having some breastfeeding issues. She doesn’t seem to want to latch properly on the right side for some reason. Her sleep issues have resolved. She is eating every three hours and actually sleeping at night instead of being awake during this time. My sister in law came by and took pictures of her. They turned out amazing! She was awake all day long that day which did mess up our routine causing her sleep to once again get a little messed up.

Week threeBreastfeeding issues are still going on which has been pretty frustrating to me. At night she refuses to eat unless I have on the nipple shield and she is so messy when she eats with it. I’ve been pretty sleep deprived and kind of grouchy. I love her to death but it has been so hard. I’ve cried several times and luckily my husband has been able to come home to help. This was Jeff’s first week back to work but last week he was gone a lot working on school stuff. Jeff has been really supportive and has been trying to give me a little “me” time. Overall, Marina is doing great and is a joy to be around.

Marina in her "Wiggle Worm" shirt. She certainly lives up to it!

Marina's 1st Easter

Week Four Pic (will update at end of each week here's a pic for now though)

She is beautiful, but what a birth story...I'm so glad that you were able to have a vaginal delivery and think that you made very smart decisions in order to do so...

I totally understand the no sleep issues...Kaiden has good days and bad days - I love the good days, but the bad days are rough...it does get easier though...I bathed in the Lanolin for the first few weeks because my BBs were so sore, but now I dont even need to use it cause my nipples are so tough at this point...

One thing that really helped me is to have Matt take him right after gettinghome - for about 2 hours, so that I could get two hours of solid sleep (power nap)...

What a beautiful story! I am sorry you didnt get the natural birth, but so thrilled for you and your family on having a healthy baby girl!!! Glad things are going well....I've heard BFing takes lots of patience. Hang in there, it sounds like you are doing good.

Casey...it sounds like you did a great job making the best decisions for your little girl...you have had a tough time of it, and I hope the breast feeding issues get better!! She is absolutely gorgeous (I saw some pics on FB) I can't wait till you can come back to us full swing, but definitely understand being MIA.

thanks so much for sharing your birth story!! Even though it wasn't a natural birth, you still labored and did all the hard stuff before the epi PLUS, you got a vaginal which in the end was ALL that mattered!

Marina is absolutely beautiful. THe first few weeks (ok, first few months) are a blur when you are sleep deprived but it WILL get better! I hope BF gets better for you too!

I've been a slacker and just now read your birth story. You did a great job, regardless of whether it was different than what you were originally wanting. It also sounds like your DH was an amazing support through labor! Marina is so beautiful!

Week 4
Marina is doing so much better with breastfeeding and doesn't even need the nipple shield at night! Such a relief! She has been smiling a lot in her sleep but not much directed at us. Can't wait till those smiles are meant for me She's been a pretty happy baby. Marina loves the moby wrap and I am finally able to clean up a little since she falls fast asleep in it. Marina was in her first 5K. We just walked it but it was great to get out and do some exercise. Marina did great in her stroller until the last big hill. She was ready to eat and she wanted to eat NOW, lol!

Week 5
Marina had her first tub bath this week and did a much better job than the sponge baths. She is also in her swing more and loves it. The swing makes her very sleepy which is a nice break for mommy Marina had her 1 month appointment and it went very well. She has gained 2 1/2 lbs and has grown 2 inches! She's 9 pounds 11 ounces and 21.5 inches long now. She's in her cloth diapers now. They are the one size fits up to 35lbs and they are so bulky on her but she looks super cute

Week 6
We had to go my mom's which is about an hour and a half drive away for a funeral. A friend of our family's died of breast cancer. Marina did not tolerate the change in schedule well and woke up every hour! Needless to say I was super exhausted. It took several days for her to get back on track. Marina has finally started to like her bouncer seat! Now she doesn't care much for her swing which is funny. One evening she slept the entire night! I woke her up at 6:30 that morning because my boobs hurt so bad and I wanted some relief, lol. After that she went back to sleep and I was super thrilled. Of course, that was just a one time thing though. She has been spitting up a lot more and at times concerns me but she seems to be okay.

Week 7
Marina has been doing great. We had a big week. We are having more breastfeeding issues with her latch again and I had to use the nipple shield a couple of times which was disappointing. The important thing is she's getting what she needs though. I bought the My Brest Friend pillow which has helped a ton. It is sooo much better than the Boppy. It's got a lot more support and I can even feed her hands free at times! She has been having a lot of spit up lately and I even had to buy 4 more packs of burp cloths and 2 packs of receiving blankets. Since you can't buy covers for the Brest Friend here I cover it with receiving blankets so I don't have to wash the cover it came with all the time. Sometimes it looks like she's spitting up at least a whole ounce! Last night was a really rough night for us. She screamed for hours and it was the most pitiful thing ever. She had an upset tummy and spit up soooo much. I was shocked by the amount that came out of her. I had to give her a full tub bath because she was literally covered from head to toe. Plus since we co sleep we had to change our sheets because they were ruined. Anyway, as soon I put her in the warm bath water she calmed down immediately. Soon after her bath she fell asleep and slept 6 1/2 hours straight. My boobs hurt so bad when we woke up and I got 6 ounces out of one side alone when I pumped! This is a ton for me.
This week was also Marina's first trip to the zoo. She did a great job. Mommy, not so well. I learned not to try out new diapers when you are going to be out all day. She had a massive poo explosion and she was completely covered as well as her car seat. Jeff had to cut up a burp cloth to fit in the car seat because the wipes just weren't cutting it. I fed her at the zoo and because it was so hot I went without a cover. We went off the path were bypassers wouldn't be able to see unless they were really trying. Jeff stood there and the car seat was there which concealed us a lot. Still people were staring hard trying to figure out what I was doing. One lady even walked off the path to stand about 10 feet away from us to stare! People are so nuts when it comes to breastfeeding! After the zoo we went out to eat and Marina did not do so well. She screamed and screamed and we had to leave.
My maternity leave is now over half over and I'm so sad about this. I work just 3 days a week but they are 12 hour days. I don't know how I'm going to leave her for that long. I wish we could afford for me to be a stay at home mommy. Jeff is going to take off work and watch her my first day back so I will feel better which is great.
Overall, Marina is doing great. She is smiling and laughing more and more. She does this more for Jeff than me, but it's such a treat to see. Anyway, here is her 7 week pic and zoo pics.

Marina after getting cleaned up and eating. Daddy is burping her. (Daddy fixed her hair not mommy.)

Some people...you should have yelled at that darn lady that you were bfing and she should take a picture.

I'm guessing she is going to go to daycare. DH and I decided that the last week, we are going to do a 1/2 day transition into daycare....basically, I will take her in the morning and dh will pick her up at noon that way, if any issues arise, we have a week to come up with a remedy. I don't have any advice on how it will go, but maybe you could try something like that and it would lessen the anxiety.